Hedge Fund Founder John Paulson Gives $20 Million to NYU Stern

November 18, 2009

New York University's Stern School of Business has announced a gift of $20 million from alumnus John Paulson, founder and chairman of hedge fund Paulson & Co., Inc., to fund faculty research, scholarships, and a major facilities renovation.

The school will apply $5 million of the gift to endow two faculty chairs — the Alan Greenspan Chair in Economics and the John A. Paulson Professor of Finance and Alternative Investments. The former is named for the five-term Federal Reserve chair and Stern alumnus, while the second will be held by newly awarded professor of finance Lasse H. Pedersen, whose research on how liquidity risk affects security prices, trading, funding, and risk management has been highly influential.

In addition, the school will allocate $4 million of the gift to scholarships for high-merit, high-need undergraduate business students, while the remaining $11 million will support the school's Concourse Project, a significant renovation of the Stern campus designed to create a more light-infused learning environment and connect the school's two primary buildings, the Henry Kaufman Management Center and Tisch Hall.

"We are extremely grateful for John's support," said NYU Stern dean Thomas F. Cooley. "His generous gift will not only further strengthen Stern's research capability, particularly in the areas of finance and economics, and provide scholarships for undergraduate business students, but it will help us provide our students with a modernized learning environment that matches the high quality of educational experience we deliver."